The NRA and Gun Violence

This week after the horrific shooting at the Sikh Temple in Wisconsin comes another story of crazy gun owners.  This one is in Westlake, Ohio where a man entered a movie theater playing the Dark Knight with a bag of guns and ammo.

A quick thinking policeman saw the man who was seated in the back row of the theater.  When he asked to examine the man's bag, he found he was carrying guns and ammunition, along with a first aid kit.  The man, Scott Smith was arrested and his house was searched.  There officers found a cache of guns, pistols and shotguns as well as thousands of rounds of ammo and a gas mask.

Come on folks, isn't it time we really got honest about this mess?  We have unstable people stockpiling guns and ammunition with visions of mass murder in their heads.  We have white-power fanatics using automatic and semi-automatic weapons to kill people strictly because they wear turbans.  We have idiots with orange dyed hair donning assault gear and blasting innocent people in movie theaters.

We also have the NRA.

Now, I have owned guns in the past, and I enjoyed target shooting.  I understand people like to hunt and shoot  for sport.  That's just fine with me, but what the hell do people need with semi-automatic assault weapons and body armor?  How can we interpret the second amendment to include shoulder mounted rocket launchers like some judges do? 

The NRA has far too much political clout and I suspect they are supported not by sportsmen, but by gun manufacturers.  Politicians need to do some serious push-back to the kookie arguments of the NRA and address the epidemic of gun violence in our country.  Rather than feeling safe with all these weapons out there, I feel very vulnerable.  I no longer own guns.  Mine were stolen when my house was burglarized and so more guns got in the hands of criminals.  We have to tell the NRA that we will no longer allow them to bully the country so gun manufacturers can reap the profits of selling military weaponry to every Joe Schmo who wants to be a Rambo.

Get real people!